Mouse house mod, mouse house mod!!!
Finally got around to adding a front wire panel to the mice enclosure, which turned out GREAT. Super sturdy, super handsome, and it should greatly increase their ventilation and reduce smell and ammonia build up.
Ammonia build up only became a problem recently if I would miss a cage cleaning for a few extra days, but ammonia actually becomes harmful before it becomes detectable by humans, so better to make it better now then regret it later!! This should help a lot and it looks so much nicer, too. Much easier to view and hear them, and I made the zip tie nodes sticking outwards so they shouldn't be too tempted to chew on anything.
I also trimmed the wire top so it doesn't scrape or poke our fingers when we lift the lid. The wire was always squished by the plastic tub itself so the mice were never in contact with the sharp edges anyway, but after taking a few hours (yes, hours) to snip down all the excess wire and edges it not only looks better, but it's even safer for everyone now AND the lid comes off smoothly.
While I had the soldering iron out I also melted holes in Danny's new nest box so I can zip tie that into his enclosure tonight, and fix his one perch that's leaning too much. I also washed a lot more sand for the quail so I can deep clean their enclosure and add more substrate tomorrow. Got pretty freaked out after Python's sudden URI so I'm working Very Hard to do all those little things I said I'd do but never got around to, so all the pets will be a lot healthier and happier in the long run. AND it's even easier for me to care for them, too.
Just takes a little while, is all. But it really does pay off. c:
